Hundreds to participate in March for Our Lives events in Southern Utah

Southern Utah University students and members of Action Iron County create signs for the March 24, 2018, March for Our Lives in Cedar City.(Photo: Arlene Braithwaite/Special for The Spectrum & Daily News)

Although Victor Rivers — an actor, author, athlete and speaker — lives more than 2,600 miles away from the Parkland, Florida, high school ravaged by a mass shooting in February, its impact hit extremely close to home.

His niece, 18-year-old Samantha Fuentes, was shot four times as four of her Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School classmates died beside her. She lived but sustained serious injuries.

"She has a bullet lodged behind her right eye that won't come out," Rivers said. "She was in a classroom where four kids were killed. These kids survived this trauma, and it somehow activated them to say, 'This is enough.' "

With 838 marches organized worldwide, the March for Our Lives on Saturday will be a collective demonstration that aims to call on lawmakers to end gun violence and mass shootings in schools.

March for Our Lives will be held at noon on Saturday, March 24 in Washington, D.C. to protest gun violence and raise awareness for school safety. Sister marches will also be held around the country, with the nearest one in Harrisburg.(Photo: Courtesy)

In Washington, D.C., Fuentes will join thousands more students, families and everyday citizens who are urging gun control reform.

Five sister marches are organized in Utah, according to the March for Our Lives website. St. George, Cedar City, Logan and two locations in Salt Lake City will host marches.

Rivers, who is also a domestic violence activist, is scheduled to speak at the annual DOVE Center Gala on Saturday night and he plans to participate in the St. George march the next morning.

"I was going to attend the Washington D.C. march with my niece and my sister, and I spaced on the date of the DOVE Center event," Rivers said. "I knew I wanted to participate in the Southern Utah march."

St. George march

After a theater student at Dixie State University asked her professor if the class could discuss the Parkland shooting, a small group of classmates came together and decided to organize a March for Our Lives event.

Katelyn Hunsaker, a sophomore student from Salt Lake City, said she was gathering her own opinions about what "common sense" gun legislation means when she decided to ask her classmates what they thought.

"There was a lot of students who agreed something needs to change, and we wanted to make a movement," Hunsaker said. "Our platform is something we have all come up (with) together, and it's something we agree on."

“I think it's powerful that in a society that tells (young people) we don't know what we're talking about, when these students stand up and say 'yes we do,' it's a powerful movement.”

Katelyn Hunsaker, Dixie State University student, organizer of the St. George march

The St. George group's platform includes disallowing military-grade weapons to be accessed by the general public, consistent background checks, collaboration between states regarding consistent gun laws, annual training classes and mental-health screenings.

"I want to make a change," Hunsaker said. "I feel that the amount of mass shootings that have happened is deplorable."

Rivers said he's always been "the activist of the family," although his entire family has been supportive of these types of issues from the peripheral.

But after Fuentes was shot in the Parkland shooting, Rivers said the event has engaged his family in a very personal way.

"This is the first time they're taking part of any kind of protest," he said. "They're all supporting what (Fuentes) is doing."

Beyond his family's connection to the violence that unfolded in Parkland, Rivers has a more abstract connection to the issues at hand. Rivers grew up in a violent home.

He was one of the "troubled kids," Rivers explained, and he grew up as a "big, angry, violent kid" who joined a gang after he left home at just 15 years old.

Rivers said he's thankful no one ever put a gun in his hands.

"I was the kid who would part the hallway of people when I walked passed them," he explained. "I often say the kid who carries out these types of shootings is the direct correlation between violence and domestic violence. The kid who's being bullied at home comes to school and becomes the bully, and sometimes the kid who's being bullied becomes the shooter."

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The St. George March for Our Lives will begin at 10 a.m. at the Eccles Fine Arts Center, and participants will march along St. George Boulevard to Mayor Jon Pike's office.

Hunsaker said she's expecting around 100 people to attend, and DSU is not actively supporting the march. She said march organizers didn't need to obtain any permits or special permission to meet on campus, but the university is not associated with the march itself.

"I think it's powerful that in a society that tells (young people) we don't know what we're talking about, when these students stand up and say 'yes we do,' it's just a powerful movement, and it's kind of a long time coming," Hunsaker said.

Cedar City

The march in Cedar City is organized by two organizations: students from Southern Utah University's Human Rights Advocates club and Action Iron County.

Ksenya Plumb, founder and president of the Human Rights Advocates club, said event organizers will urge participants to register to vote from their cellphones.

"We believe it's important for people to be registered to vote if they want to see change," Plumb said. "We're trying to bring attention to our elected officials that we want meaningful change to address school shootings and violence against children in both domestic violence issues and school shootings."

Plumb said 14 attendees have RSVP'd on the March for Our Lives official website, but she expects more to attend. Participants will meet at the clock tower on SUU's campus and march approximately 1.25 miles through downtown Cedar City.

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Canyon View High students in Cedar City participate in the ENOUGH: National School Walkout on March 14, 2018. The protest against gun violence in schools started at 10 a.m. and lasted for 17 minutes to honor the 17 people who died in the Parkland, Florida, shooting on Feb. 14, 2018. James M. Dobson / The Spectrum & Daily News

Canyon View High School senior Madi Kropf takes a photo holding a sign reading 'Enough is Enough!' during the national school walkout to protest gun violence in schools, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. James M. Dobson / The Spectrum & Daily News

Cedar High students walk around the school's track after walking out of their classrooms March 14, 2018, to protest violence in schools. It was part of a nationwide event to remember the 17 people killed in the shooting at Parkland, Florida, a month earlier. James M. Dobson / The Spectrum & Daily News

Plumb said the march is "more than just acting like snowflakes and whining" about gun control.

"We're trying to organize and tell our legislators who are supposed to represent us we want to show there are diverse opinions on the matter, and we're not going to keep letting things go along with the status quo," Plumb said.